Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania : long road to independence

This was our first time visiting the Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.  My wife and I took the cruise from Stockholm to Tallin, capital of Estonia.  From there we travelled south to Latvia and Lithuania by bus.  It was Spring.  We were lucky to have sunny weather in most part of the trip.

(Beautiful spring flowers on sale in the market)

 

(Blue sky and clear water surrounding the Trakai Island Castle)

History of these Baltic countries can be traced back to the medieval world around the 12th century.  Denmark king first cross the Baltic Sea and subdued the local peoples.  This was followed by Sweden as its power overtook Denmark in the Northern Europe.  The Germanic traders and landlords gradually dominated this area around the 16th century.  Until the 19th century, the Russian Tsars took control of the Baltic land.  Later, Nazi Germany and USSR had fought over this flat forest land.

(City of Tallin with church towers overlooking the surrounding houses)

(School children touring the old town of Tallin)

(Historical Germanic guild house in Riga)

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania first got their independence as countries in the 1920s.  However this did not last long.  Their people experienced hardship with occupations by Nazi and Red Army.  Eventually they were drawn as part of the USSR in the 1940s.  Not until the breakup of the USSR in the 1990s, these countries regained their independence for the second time.

(The Hill of Cross as memory of the loved ones and the struggle of Lithuania)

(Modern buildings shown up in Vilnius)

The road to independence for these Baltic countries is by no mean simple.  There were ups and downs with the experiments of democratic governments.  They had been living between strong national neighbors.  With their limited populations, economic and military strengthens, their independence were not always rock solid. 

(Vilnius university as one of the oldest university from medieval time)